Merle Haggard Museum and Saloon Set to Open in Music City Summer 2018

Merle Haggard’s family, along with Bill and Shannon Miller, co-founders of the Patsy Cline Museum and the Johnny Cash Museum, have joined forces to bring the Merle Haggard Museum and Merle’s Meat + Three Saloon to Nashville.

Haggard, who died on April 6, 2016—his 79th birthday, is best known for relating to the working many with songs “Okie, From Muskogee,” “The Fighting Side of Me,” “Mama Tried” and “If We Make It Through December.” Merle scored 38 Billboard No. 1 hits and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994.

The Merle Haggard Museum and Restaurant—located at 121 Third Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee, next to Johnny Cash’s museum—will feature interactive exhibits, performance wardrobes, instruments and professional and personal possessions of the legendary singer. The building will house Merle’s Meat + 3 Saloon, a Southern-style restaurant and saloon, on the ground level with the Merle Haggard Museum on an upper floor.

“The world lost one of the greatest country singers of all time and I lost the love of my life when Merle Haggard died on his 79th birthday April 6, 2016,” says Theresa Haggard. “Merle would be very happy knowing that his museum will be next door to his dear friend Johnny Cash. I’m sure he is up there smiling about that. Our family is also very excited about the Merle-themed restaurant and bar featuring first-class, Southern home cooking and a saloon to boot. This museum will be a way to preserve and share the love Merle had for music and life.”